I’ve learned a lot over the years from Jason Fried. He’s sort of my mentor, although I’ve never met him. He’s one of the first successful people that I immediately associated with. He’s a Designer who loves simplicity (me too). He cares more about making his products work than pleasing everyone and anyone. He also doesn’t act like a “businessman.” He acts like a successful person. He has office hours where you can call him and chat about business or whatever. He treats his employees like great employees deserve to be treated and he just gets it when it comes to running things they way they should be run. His employees are some of the best compensated in the world. When you start at 37Signals (which takes more than a good interview), you get a company credit card. Without a limit. Seriously… Use it for whatever you want. He doesn’t act like a parent. He treats his employees like important people. He values them for the work they do. Other than that, he stays out of the way.
The reason for all this Fried-fervor is a side project that I’ve been working on with a friend called InvoiceStorm (site prototype). It’s an application for freelancers like me, as well as small and medium businesses.
We didn’t quit our day-jobs to do this project. We could have and maybe would have been done already, but we kept it a “side-project” as Jason (and others) have recommended. That way there was never any pressure on us to pay the bills or succeed at the cost of a quality product. At every turn I think, “wow, this is sort of how 37Signals was started.” It’s been driving me to find more and more time to devote to my new baby and it’s slowly becoming my main project. When it launches, I’ll likely have to slow down or stop my freelancing and devote more serious time to it – The goal being a full-time job working on the sites & software that I’ve created with amazingly talented people.
Does your project have that kind of importance to you? Do you feel excited for the chance to work on something that matters? If not, maybe it’s time.
Lately I’ve been focusing more and more on the music I listen to. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had an auditory obsession. My mind thinks in song lyrics and there’s always a tune in my head. If you know me, you’ve heard me sing, whistle, or play an instrument. I’ve also noticed how important it is to designers in general. Every designer that I’ve ever met has a similar love of music and I’m beginning to wonder what the correlation is. Do we love design because of the music that we listen to or is it something inherent in our DNA? I like to think people are born with music inside them and they choose what to do with it. Some people ignore or stifle it and some embrace it and let it become a part of them. I thought about this as I watched Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar sing this:
Musicians in their element is a look into the human soul. They are complete and whole within the ideas in their heads. You can tell when an artist or musician loves what they are singing or playing. The emotion on their faces is that of purity and freedom – however un-pure or un-free they are when the song is over.
The purity and freedom of music is probably the reason that it means so much to people creating things. When we design, paint, draw, write or take pictures we need that encouragement of freedom. We are part of a community of dreamers and artists and that knowledge guides us in our pursuits.
I don’t know exactly where ideas come from, but when I’m working well ideas just appear. I’ve heard other people say similar things – so it’s one of the ways I know there’s help and guidance out there. It’s just a matter of our figuring out how to receive the ideas or information that are waiting to be heard.
This post is for people hiring designers, developers or any other creative freelancer because I get the feeling that many clients consider “hiring you” the only part of the project they need to be involved in.
I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some amazing clients who know exactly what they want and communicate it beautifully. These are the best clients to have and if you’re one of them – Thank you. There’s another type of client, however, that tends to make life so much more difficult. I’ve only worked with this type a few times, but it was enough to make me not want to work with them ever again. Here’s what you can do to get the most out of us freelancers:
Know what you want
The most important thing about any design or development project is understanding your project. If you don’t know what you want, how do you expect to get it? When you hire a freelancer or outside vendor remember these rules and you’ll get the best work possible and things will magically come in before the deadline.
Have goals – A lot of projects I get start out with the phrase, “I need a website.” This is probably a true statement, but many people don’t know why they need a website. They don’t know what they want to accomplish from having a website and they sometimes don’t even know much about websites. So start out by figuring out what you want to get from a website – than say, “I need a website.”
Learn your market – There’s probably already someone out there doing something that you do, or at the very least something similar to what you do. Go to their website. Call their phone number and talk to the person who answers the phone. Find out as much as you can about them and than figure out a way to do it better, faster, or more fun. Add those to your goals list.
Be open-minded - This is a tough one for a lot of people. I know that when I have an idea, I think it’s the greatest creation in existence. It’s usually not. After talking to others, I find out that I’m not as smart as I like to pretend. So when you hire someone to do a job for you – whether it’s a new website or building you a new widget – tell them what you want and than trust them to come up with the best solution. A good designer (or developer) will fight for the idea that is the best. If you find yourself arguing with them about a specific detail, you should step back and ask why your freelancer is fighting for that idea. Maybe they’ve had a similar problem and found the best solution a long time ago.
Pick the right person for the job
Every project is different just like every freelancer is different. We all work differently and getting the same results out of all of us is not going to happen. I have a few styles of design that I’m great at. I can adapt fairly well, but I’ll never be great at everything. No one can do it all. I prefer to work in a very clean, useful style. If you ask me to build your website, unless you tell me otherwise, I’ll look for a clean, modern solution like these:
If you want a grungy or dirty look, you’ll want to find a designer that has plenty of examples of doing this type of work:
Hire the person with experience working with your type of project and you’ll both be happier. Not knowing who you’re hiring is no longer an excuse – Every designer or developer has a website so do your homework.
Communication
The final piece to the puzzle is communication. If you’re upfront and honest from the start, both you and your freelancer will walk away happy. Be clear immediately about your expectations and ask them about their expectations of your project. Some designers hate limits and rules and love to think outside the box. Some love to find elegant or interesting solutions to a problem given a set of rules. You have to decide how willing you are to put your trust in the person you hire.
If you’re laid-back and easy-going, you don’t want to work with a designer that needs constant approval. You probably want someone that you can give the main idea to and let them run with it. If you’re a more hands-on person, but want someone to give you something amazing that you’ve never seen before, don’t expect to get much say in the process with an “out-of-the-box” type of designer. You may want to hire someone that simply follows the rules.
Bottom line: Be honest with yourself and with the people you hire. You know if you’re a micro-manager or more like the Dude, so let prospective freelancers know ahead of time. Both your lives will be easier.
I have a few friends that occasionally need a very basic web page, but don’t have the time to learn HTML. While I think that it’s a tragedy that more people don’t learn this language (it’s easy enough for kids – start here), I do generally want to help. Since I started freelancing full-time, I don’t have the time I used to so I’m going to give out the little template that I use when I get these requests.
It’s a great way to learn how HTML and CSS react with each other as well. If you have a full-featured HTML editor, you can see how everything works together to create almost any style you can imagine. I have been using Adobe Dreamweaver since college and that let’s me do pretty much anything, but there are thousands of free and cheap HTML editors like CoffeeCup or First Page to get you started.
Here’s a quick example of two pages that I created in less that 1 minute each using this template. It’s not amazing work, but it’s quick and it works.
So there you go. The next time you want a simple little page, dive in and make it yourself. In the end it will only make you smarter.
Yesterday I was working away in my office when I saw a grey cat lightly pounce over my fence and amble up to one of the big live oaks in my backyard. He looked amazingly relaxed as he gazed up the tree. After a moment or two he nonchalantly leapt up into the lowest branches and disappeared into the tree.
I didn’t think anything of it, except that cats are cool, until a few minutes later when I saw a squirrel run down the tree. He tried to run away but the cat came out of nowhere and blocked his path. Than the squirrel tried to run back up the tree and the cat lunged at him and knocked him to the ground landing perfectly over his prey. With one bite he had made the squirrel motionless and picked him up and calmly walked to my fence and hopped over back into the woods.
It was the most incredible animal kill I’ve ever seen. Above even the chases on Animal Planet. Clean and quick without a moments pause or hesitation. That cat was a hunter. It also brought to mind the raw and pure elements of nature, although I did feel slightly bad for the squirrel, it was nature at her finest. The strongest and fastest beast lives while her prey does not.
I made a mental note to get outside as much as possible to find more elements of nature to use as inspiration in the things I create and write about. It can be beautiful or horrible, but it never ceases to amaze.
Today I’m creating a marketing plan for xdv8, a new iPhone app development team. The app they are going to be releasing is good, but what’s better is that I’m learning a ridiculous amount as I create the plan. In the researching of app price points, average returns for developers and usage statistics, I can cobble together a really solid understanding of how the iPhone app economy works and performs. I knew enough to get by before. I read TechCrunch, Gizmodo, and a dozen other tech/web/nerd blogs, but until you get in the dirt, you only see the tip of the iceberg.
One of my favorite things to think about when I’m starting a project that seems really big is from the guys at 37 Signals – The best way to graduate from beginner is to get in way over your head. It feels scary when you have to do something that you’ve never done before, but how the hell else do you learn? You can study all day on the “right” way to do things, but until you get in there, you’ll never really know. Practice might not make perfect, but it makes better. So I’m going to keep jumping in the deep end and learning more every time.
UPDATE: Marissa Mayer, Glamour’s 2009 Woman of the Year and Google VP of Search & User Development agrees with me and 37 Signals as well:
Get in a bit over your head,” she says. “That’s how you grow and learn and stretch yourself.”
I wrote a quick email to fox.com the other day while I was trying to catch up on an episode of House that I had missed. It was a Monday, so a new episode was on that night, but I had missed the season premier the week before. So I did what any good fan might do; headed over to fox.com to see the episode online so I could be thoroughly prepared for tonight’s viewing. Sadly, fox’s policy on online episodes is tragically short-sighted. Here’s my quick missive to them:
Hi,
I noticed that Fox airs shows online after 8 days. This is counter-intuitive to what you’re trying to accomplish. If you want people to tune in via their TVs than they have to catch up on episodes they’ve missed. If you changed the airing online to 6 days or possibly an hour before the NEXT episode, you’d get more people tuning in via TV where ads are more lucrative for you.
Hope you consider this.
I thought, at the very least they would have a low-level Fox community organizer send me an actual response either thanking me for the suggestion or telling me to mind my own business. Instead, I got a seemingly robot-generated email listing fox.com’s policies on online viewing. Here’s what they said:
Dear ,
The episodes listed on the site are the only ones currently available for viewing. The posting of some episodes may be delayed at least 8 days due to contractual obligations.
To select an episode, click on their episode’s picture below the video stage. You must wait until the first commercial for a given episode has played before you can select a different episode. Use the arrows to the top right of the listed episodes to see additional episode selections.
Not all Fox television shows are available for viewing on fox.com. To request that additional programming be made available, please contact askfox@fox.com. Be sure to include the specific show and episode to which you are referring.
Sort of helpful, but I had just taken the time to point out a flaw in fox’s logic: I’ll never catch up on episodes if they wait 8 days to stream an episode online.
I had used a form on fox.com’s website. I was under the impression that my email would go to fox. I learned after checking the email address that it actually came from Move Networks, the company that handles fox’s video streaming. It seems like such a simple thing to get wrong. When a user of your website has a question/concern/problem, you should want that email. You should crave that information. Sadly, Fox does not. I have contacted askfox@fox.com, but received no reply as of yet. Hopefully they remedy this online viewing policy, but until than I’ll always be a week behind the rest of the world in House.
It was the most incredible animal kill I’ve ever seen. Above even the chases on Animal Planet. Clean and quick without a moments pause or hesitation. That cat was a hunter. It also brought to mind the raw and pure elements of nature, although I did feel slightly bad for the squirrel, it was nature at her finest. The strongest and fastest beast lives while her prey does not.